50 years since the introduction of Australian dollars and cents

[Syndrome]

Introduced 14th February 1966

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7oTDRjyti1s

[Itsme]

I can still remember the old currency when I was young, my god it was terrible learning the imperial system then changing over to the decimal system.

[SYZ]

Thank you muchly Syndrome... Just what I needed. Something to cheer up my grumpy old bones. Not.

[Trevor 57]

I remember the day clearly taking a penny to shop and getting 2c back I was ****ed because the penny was a bigger coin, I was 9 at the time

[cheap]

About all I can remember from that era was the sixpence had a similar size to the new 5 cent coins and was interchangeable.

[castellan]

It wont be long and cash will be gone and we will be welcoming the new introduction just like many other nations have nowadays.

What's the bet is it about 1 year away from happening in Australia.

[thefargo]

Originally Posted by castellan

It wont be long and cash will be gone and we will be welcoming the new introduction just like many other nations have nowadays.

What's the bet is it about 1 year away from happening in Australia.

I'll bet you a 50c piece

[Itsme]

Originally Posted by castellan

It wont be long and cash will be gone and we will be welcoming the new introduction just like many other nations have nowadays.

What's the bet is it about 1 year away from happening in Australia.

You will always have currency & for good reason, can you reference a cashless country?

[Charliewool]

I used to go to the same corner shop walking home from school and buy 6d worth of liquorice blocks... 4 a penny..24 for 6d
Feb 15th.... Same 6d coin, and I only get 20... Lady in shop informs me that my 6d is now 5c...
If they ripped an 8yr old 20% in one day, what was the cost to the average Aussie Joe-Blow? (Especially if they bought lots of liquorice blocks!)

[castellan]

Originally Posted by trublu

You will always have currency & for good reason, can you reference a cashless country?

Denmark was the first and there is 5 now I think.

[SYZ]

Originally Posted by trublu

You will always have currency & for good reason, can you reference a cashless country?

None yet, but as of April 2015 these are some figures I found...

Belgium—Non-cash payments’ share of total value of consumer payments: 93%

France—Non-cash payments’ share of total value of consumer payments: 92%

Canada—Non-cash payments’ share of total value of consumer payments: 90%

United Kingdom—Non-cash payments’ share of total value of consumer payments: 89%

Sweden—Non-cash payments’ share of total value of consumer payments: 89%

Australia—Non-cash payments’ share of total value of consumer payments: 86%

The Netherlands—Non-cash payments’ share of total value of consumer payments: 85%

(Source: MasterCard Advisors' "Cashless Journey", CNBC)

[Syndrome]

Originally Posted by castellan

It wont be long and cash will be gone and we will be welcoming the new introduction just like many other nations have nowadays.

What's the bet is it about 1 year away from happening in Australia.

No way! If you don't hold it you don't own it. Only idiots want a cashless society.



Back on topic. Anybody have a collection of the pre 1966 Australian currency?

[Itsme]

Originally Posted by Syndrome

No way! If you don't hold it you don't own it. Only idiots want a cashless society.

Back on topic. Anybody have a collection of the pre 1966 Australian currency?

True, Cash is always good for wheeling & dealing!

[Ford_The_Win]

Originally Posted by Syndrome

Back on topic. Anybody have a collection of the pre 1966 Australian currency?

Heaps! A bit nerdy I know, but I have been collecting it ever since I was a kid. I grew up on a farm and I was always finding it around the place and that sparked my interest. I have a lot of colonial, pre-federation coinage, the oldest going back to the 1860s. The most precious of them all has been passed down through the family, it was a coin given to a distant relation (long since dead) by Ned Kelly. This family member was at a bank when the Kelly gang robbed it. I think the intention behind the "gift" was to keep them sweet.

[bobthebilda]

Originally Posted by Syndrome

No way! If you don't hold it you don't own it. Only idiots want a cashless society.



Back on topic. Anybody have a collection of the pre 1966 Australian currency?

I have quite a good collection of pre 1966 Decimal, but what I collect in earnest now is decimal currency. You can go thru your pockets now, and find a coin made from 1966 to 1970. Not only do you get the coin at face value, but the government is actively destroying these coins as they go thru the banking system. They get rarer and rarer each year.

[Charliewool]

Originally Posted by Trevor 57

I remember the day clearly taking a penny to shop and getting 2c back I was ****ed because the penny was a bigger coin, I was 9 at the time

Woulda only got a tiny 1c coin Trev?

[LG17]

I was just finishing high school when it came in.
There was tons of advertising by the government saying that we wouldn't get ripped off...
They were right on most of the major items but not on the smaller ones like lollies, chips and chocolate.
There were many arguments between shopkeepers and the kids. The kids were always right but still lost just because they were kids!

[yanknbank]

I can still remember feeling a little disappointed at there being no more thrupenny bits in the plum puddings at Christmas time. Scarred me for life!

[Sprintey]

Originally Posted by yanknbank

I can still remember feeling a little disappointed at there being no more thrupenny bits in the plum puddings at Christmas time. Scarred me for life!

Hahaha, we can still do that but have to warn the kids first so they don't eat them. Early thrupenny was 92.5% silver, so you just know that your pudding will remain bacteria free for a while longer than it should!

For Syndrome, etc, when decimal first introduced the round 50c was 50% silver, the rest were chaff - rumour had it that as the silver weight of the coin > its face value the Japanese bought an immense amount of them and melted them down for the arbitrage value.

From memory as well, imperial coin
UK 92.5% silver until 1918 (Britain bankrupt from WW1, devalues)
Australia: 92.5% silver until 1945 (bankrupt from WW2, devalues)

so you have this unique situation where, for example, a British and dominion half crown in the interwar period was accepted as same value, but the dominion coin was worth nearly twice as much. Any numismatists feel free to correct me

'Casey's Cartwheel' ftw

[Syndrome]

Shame we did not introduce a different name than the dollar. Dollars are too common and used by many countries.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dollar...ollar.E2.80.9D

[Ford_The_Win]

Originally Posted by Syndrome

Shame we did not introduce a different name than the dollar. Dollars are too common and used by many countries.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dollar...ollar.E2.80.9D

I think changing the name of the currency to the 'dollar' (rather than retaining the 'pound') reflected an overall change in Australian culture moving away from the UK after WW2. The predecimal Australian pound was a nonsensical relic but there was no real need to change the name of the currency as well, so that seems like a logical explanation to me. The Brits decimalised the pound sterling not too long after us, and all the arbitrary measures like the shilling were replaced with 5p, 10p etc., very similar to our dollar.

[Syndrome]

Originally Posted by Ford_The_Win

I think changing the name of the currency to the 'dollar' (rather than retaining the 'pound') reflected an overall change in Australian culture moving away from the UK after WW2. The predecimal Australian pound was a nonsensical relic but there was no real need to change the name of the currency as well, so that seems like a logical explanation to me. The Brits decimalised the pound sterling not too long after us, and all the arbitrary measures like the shilling were replaced with 5p, 10p etc., very similar to our dollar.

True. But why call it the dollar. Why not something new or different?

[Ford_The_Win]

Originally Posted by Syndrome

True. But why call it the dollar. Why not something new or different?

Menzies who was still the PM at the time wanted the currency to be called the 'royal' - even worse and more pommy than the pound - it got to the point where mock currency was designed and minted for evaluation. So we dodged a tea soaked bullet there!

[LG17]

Dollar was a decimal based currency and that's what they were after.

[Giant Cranium]

Originally Posted by Syndrome

True. But why call it the dollar. Why not something new or different?

Because it would end up being a silly name like we do with everything. Socceroos is a good example. We would likely have 1 and 2 wombat coins

[Syndrome]

Originally Posted by Giant Cranium

Because it would end up being a silly name like we do with everything. Socceroos is a good example. We would likely have 1 and 2 wombat coins

Yes I can picture it: "That'll be 3 dingos and 25 wombats please".

[marty351]

Originally Posted by Syndrome

Yes I can picture it: "That'll be 3 dingos and 25 wombats please".

And asking for change: "can ya crack a dingo for me luv?"

[castellan]

Originally Posted by Syndrome

Yes I can picture it: "That'll be 3 dingos and 25 wombats please".

I wonder what that big fella $100 note would be, an Aboriginal.

No that would not be Politicly Correct nowadays to say, that will be 5 Abos 3 dingos and 25 wombats please.

It may of truly been something like that way, before that fella Cook came hear ay.

[Dauphin]

I remember how wrinkly the old notes used to get before they went to the current plastic, and people in the US are fascinated with it, especially with the see-through holes our notes have.

Last week I saw there are plans to possibly introduce a $5 coin here.

My father had an old whiskey bottle full of approx. 150 x 1c coins. I reckon it was worth about $1.50 hehe.

[Dauphin]

Interesting article about $100 notes:

http://www.news.com.au/finance/econo...d51b394709b666

Also, check down the bottom... a Zimbabwe $100,000,000,000,000 dollar note, see how much it converts into AUD$!